Second Chance
by Sun Tzu
Summary: JackIrina -Can he take her back? Complete.


It's up to you to figure out when this takes place....  
  
1/1  
  
~  
  
Irina Derevko strolled the busy streets of Taiwan early one morning. There was uncertainty hidden in her brisk step and a slight tint of fear in her eyes. But to the common people, she was just a lone woman on her daily errands.  
  
She was meeting him this morning.   
  
Reaching the city park, Irina seated herself on a rotting wooden bench long forgotten by tax dollars. It was old but comfortable, stable but weary. Like her.   
  
"I knew you'd come." She said plainly when she felt a presence at her side.  
  
He sat on the empty spot beside her and grunted in response.  
  
"I have a proposition."  
  
He grunted again.  
  
"Take me back." She began simply. "I love you, Jack. Nothing, not the past, not the present, and not the future can change that fact. I know I've made mistakes, but I'm willing to change. I want to be better. I want to be with you." She said certainly.  
  
He turned to look at her then, cautiously but curiously.  
  
"You left me 20 years ago. How do I know you won't leave again?"  
  
"I promise, Jack, I promise that I will never leave you again."  
  
"Irina, I'm getting tired of all your empty promises. All of which, I may add, you have not kept." He growled.  
  
"I'll keep this one." She stated frankly.  
  
He scrutinized her for several languid minutes. She seemed sincere enough. But could he even trust his instincts anymore?  
  
"Tell me one thing."  
  
She nodded curiously.  
  
"Why did you leave?"  
  
"To protect you." Her answer was so simple, Jack didn't question her. [i]One's greatest priority is to protect the family. At all measures.[/i]  
  
When Irina had executed 'the accident", there were so many times when she just wanted to give up. To let her body sink to the floor of that river and drown. It seemed so simple. Death would provide salvation and erase the pain that encompassed her. For a few grueling seconds, she thought about actually [i]doing it[/i], letting go. But then, she thought of Jack and her beautiful little girl. She was letting them live by returning to Cuvee.   
  
"Well then, why did you leave without saying goodbye? Did you even care about me...or Sydney? You hurt us. Laura hurt us."  
  
"Don't you know, Jack? You can only hurt those you love most." She gave him a hesitant smile. "Everyone knows that."  
  
He stared at her for several more moments, taking in her changes. There were more wrinkles upon her face, more wisdom and experience in her eyes, but she was the same Laura he knew 20 years earlier. She was [i]his[/i] Laura.  
  
Jack finally grasped her hand in his, marveling in how small it was, and how much comfort he found in it. Her hands were complicated hands, he decided. They could hold the steel of a gun and fire a deadly bullet; but the same hands could give him gentle caresses and soothe him. Yes, they were remarkable hands.  
  
As he stroked her hands, Irina thought of all the times she wasn't there for Jack or Sydney. The times when her little girl had needed her mother most. When Sydney reached puberty, had her first crush, went on her first date, fell in love for the first time, had her heart broken. So many first times she had missed. And then there was Jack. All the grieving he endured, the drinking, the absence. Everything upon her shoulders.  
  
Her train of thought was broken when she saw his arms raise and reach toward her. She let his arms surround her, remembering the lonely nights after her return to Russia when she had dreamt of him and wished he was really with her, holding her, taking care of her. It had been so difficult to be away from him. She had thought that, gradually, the pain would have dissipated at least a little. But it never did. She just learned to ignore it.  
  
She would have done anything to keep them safe. Anything.   
  
To the Taiwanese people passing through the park that morning, Jack Bristow and Irina Derevko would have appeared to be a normal couple out for an early morning visit to the park. Two people in love.  
  
No one would have known that they had been given a second chance at love. Love was never easy, and few were given second chances. They were, indeed, the lucky ones.  
  
[i]And this was her second chance.[/i]  
  
[b]End.[/b] 


End file.
